tion of prayers, homilies and
reflections from those weekly
gatherings.

His answer? “With eyes wide
open to the devastating times
in which we live. With lament.”

Ebola in West Africa. Syria.
The Islamic State militants in
Iraq. The murders of Canadian
soldiers Nathan Cirillo and
Patrice Vincent. How do we
deal with all that is wrong
around us?

Sam Chaise is executive
director of Canadian Baptist
Ministries. His response, an
August 2014 blog post entitled
“So Then, There’s Nothing I
Can Do,” struck a chord. It
caused a 20 per cent spike in
visits to www.cbmin.org.

He wrote to suggest that
avoidance, fatalism and even
obsession (how many likes/
dislikes about today’s tragedy
can one share on Facebook!)
are not the active responses
that faith demands in response
to these problems.

Joy in Lament

“There is a better way,” he
wrote. “The better way is a biblical way – the way of lament.”

What does it meanto lament?

Singing the Lord’s song in a strange land

By Renée James

diverse Christians from across
the campus. It still does.

“Lament is a crying out – in the
midst of a world tainted by sin,
sorrow, pain and confusion – to
a good God who has the power
to change a given situation,”
says Stacey Gleddiesmith,
program director of worship
arts at Columbia Bible College
in Abbotsford, B.C.

photo: www.dEsigNpics.com

Wi n e B e f o r e Break fast was born seven days after 9/11. Conceived by Brian Walsh, author,
theologian and Christian Reformed campus minister at the
University of Toronto, the early
morning gathering attracted

At that time, when almost
3,000 people were killed by
a series of terrorist attacks in
America, Walsh wondered,
“How do you celebrate resurrection life in the face of
such death? How do you

launch a new expression of
Christian worship and life
together in a world about to
launch into a never-ending
‘war on terrorism’?”

He muses on these questions in the introduction to St.
John Before Breakfast, a recently self-published collec-

As most of the Book of
Psalms demonstrates, a true
lament complains loud and
long to God with honesty that
leaves no room for polite self-consciousness. The lamenter
doesn’t stop there. He asks